Sega Rally Championship is a 1994 arcaderacing game developed by AM5[2] on the Sega Model 2 board. It was ported over to the Sega Saturn (by AM3) in 1995 and PC in 1997. The unique selling point of Sega Rally was the ability to drive on different surfaces (including asphalt, gravel and mud), with different friction properties, with the car's handling changing accordingly. As the first racing game to incorporate this feature, Sega Rally is considered to be one of the milestones in the evolution of the racing game genre.[3] It was also an early rally racing game and featured cooperative gameplay alongside the usual competitive multiplayer.

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The player can enter a "World Championship" mode consisting of three stages: Desert (which resembles African savanna), Forest (which resembles South American forests) and Mountain (which partly resembles Monaco and Corsica), where their finishing position at the end of one course is carried through to the starting position of the next course. In this mode, it is impossible to reach first place position by the end of the first track; thus, the player must try to overtake as many opponent cars as possible on each track (while staying within the time limit), and gain the lead over several tracks. If, at the end of the third round, the player is in first place, they are able to play a fourth secret circuit called "Lakeside" (on the Saturn version, this course may then be played in time attack and split-screen multiplayer modes).

Sega Rally Championship was directed by Kenji Sasaki, a former Namco employee known for his work on Ridge Racer. Seeking to develop a racing game that was distinct from the popular arcade titles Ridge Racer and Daytona USA, Sasaki chose the rally racing subgenre, which he felt was "taboo" in the Japanese gaming community: "We were after something in vogue in terms of motorsport racing and as we were keen on great engine sounds, cool cars and great sensations—the obvious choice was rally." While the game featured only three cars—the Toyota Celica GT-Four, Lancia Delta Group A, and a hidden Lancia Stratos—it was distinguished by its "stylized handling" and some tuning options.[1] Asked why the developers chose to use the Celica and Delta, team manager Hiroto Kikuchi answered, "We felt that in the rally, we had to use real rally cars and the chosen vehicles were well known and looked good." Senior programmer Riyuchi Hattori added, "Originally there was talk of using another car from Toyota, but we couldn't find a good one. For example, the Supra would have been just the same as the Celica and not much fun to use in the game, so we ended up with just the one. We also took note of the consumers' opinions, which confirmed that if another car was to be added it should be the Stratos."[6] According to game designer Tetsuya Mizuguchi, "we had no experience in driving those cars", but after repeated requests Toyota and Fiat provided feedback for game testing. Mizuguchi's car was used to produce the in-game sound of the Lancia Delta's engine. While developing the game's visual style, the development team spent three weeks driving from the West Coast of the United States to Mexico, taking photographs for use in texture mapping. At one point, Sasaki became deeply worried about Rally's prospects for success, and even began to question why driving cars was considered "fun". To clear his mind, "I drove up into the mountains with my own car. It was such an enjoyable and exhilarating experience ... This was how the third mountain track in the game was conceived".[1]

The Saturn version of the game had to be almost completely remade, only referencing the graphics of the arcade version, which required detailed planning.[1][7] Unlike other well-received arcade ports for the Saturn such as Virtua Fighter 2 and Virtua Cop, Sega Rally Championship was developed without using the Sega Graphics Library operating system, as it had not yet been completed when work on the game began.[7] For similar reasons, a split screen was used for multiplayer mode instead of the Saturn link cable; the developers also felt it was important that multiplayer be available to all owners of the Saturn game, not only those who had also purchased a link cable.[6] Finally, the arcade version of Rally was designed to be controlled with a steering wheel, and the developers struggled to simulate its drifting techniques using the Saturn's controller.[1] In Japan, the Saturn port of the game shared the full title of its arcade counterpart, Sega Rally Championship 1995; because it was released on December 29, 1995, the year was dropped from the title of the North American and European Saturn ports.[1]

On release, Next Generation scored the Saturn version of the game 5/5 stars, praising its "down-and-dirty feel", "truly phenomenal high-speed visuals", and "quick, responsive control."[8] The magazine cited the game's physics and handling as "nothing short of remarkable".[9]Game Informer's Reiner and Andy gave Sega Rally scores of 8/10 and 8.5/10, making note of technical improvements over the Saturn version of Sega's Daytona USA, which Andy nonetheless felt was the better game. Game Informer's Paul was more effusive, rating the Saturn port 9.25/10 for its "far better racing feel" and superior graphics to Daytona.[10]Sega Saturn Magazine gave the game a 97%, praising the difficulty of unlocking the secret course and secret car, and remarking that "whilst there's enough drag, slide action and difficulty wrestling with the controls to convince you the programmers know what it's like to drive a rally car, there's never so much realism that you'd have to know how to drive one yourself to play the game."[11]

Sega Rally was named the best racing game of all time by Retro Gamer magazine, which ranked it at the top of its "Top 25 Racing Games Ever" list.[12]Codemasters have cited Sega Rally as a strong influence on their first Colin McRae Rally game.[13] In Guinness World Records: Gamer's Edition 2009 the Saturn version of the game made it to 44th position in the list of the Top 50 Console Games, due to its "distinct handling style and superb track design."[3] IGN staff writer Levi Buchanan ranked Sega Rally Championship 6th in his list of the top 10 Sega Saturn games, saying "Yes, the Dreamcast version is much better and the current-gen sequel... is stunning, but this Saturn arcade port was one of the top reasons to stick by SEGA as it flailed through the 32-bit days."[14]

^"Top 25 Racing Games... Ever! Part 2". Retro Gamer. 21 September 2009. pp. 5–6. Retrieved 2014-01-18. The Saturn version of Sega Rally was truly astounding, a real showcase of the brilliance of the machine. The peerless arcade port would encapsulate everything that was wonderful about the arcade game. The tense two-player dashes, the racing refinement by you as a player to unlock the Stratos and to continually return to it so you could shave a few more seconds off your best time – because you always knew it was possible. Sega has always proven to be the flag bearer of videogame exhilaration – something that is so governing in the racing genre – and Sega Rally is perhaps the finest testament to that notion.

^Edge Staff, The Making Of: Colin McRae Rally, Edge, February 5, 2010: "The basic premise for the game was based around the car handling in Sega Rally," confirms Guy Wilday, producer of the first four CMR games. "Everyone who played it loved the way the cars behaved on the different surfaces, especially the fact that you could slide the car realistically on the loose gravel. The car handling remains excellent to this day and it’s still an arcade machine I enjoy playing, given the chance."